Sandcastles
by labyrinthfan4
Summary: It's summer vacation for young Sarah. Her trip down at the beach turns into a little adventure as she meets a mysterious new friend. I bet you can guess who it is. Summer one shot!


**Note: I do not own any of these characters!**

**Alright guys, it's finally summer! That means that I'm finally on summer vacation. :D Not to mention that it's beach season! Even though summer started yesterday, I thought that I'd still do a one shot to ring in the new season. Hope you guys like it! :)**

Sandcastles

The car wheels barely stopped when Sarah pushed opened the back side door of the car and ran off along the hot sand towards the beach. Her mother and father got out of the car to watch seven year old Sarah go, calling after her to be careful as they closed her car door. By now they were use to Sarah running off towards the beach while they took out their beach items from the trunk. Every summer it was the same thing.

However, this summer was somehow different. For one thing, there seemed to be less people this year. Sarah had noticed when she finally reached the water and looked back towards her parents. There were different colored umbrellas popped up all across the white sand with people of all ages relaxing underneath them or eating lunch. A few others were splashing around in the water and some college- aged students were playing volleyball.

Sarah saw her parents set up their umbrella and things some distance away. Satisfied that they were settled in, she set off; water splashing wildly as she ran. Little Sarah kept running and laughing until she could see the tiny little cove that led into some sort of cave on the shore. She never dared to go near the cove or round the corner into the cave since it was farther from the other people. She was afraid what was beyond that point and, even worse, that she would get lost from her parents. Sarah put her hands on her hips and thought for a moment. She was seven now and her need for adventure was overcoming her fears more and more.

Sarah looked back towards the beach where she spotted her parents underneath their red and white stripped umbrella before she looked back toward the cove. She took a deep breath. _Here we go_ she thought before she started to walk into the unknown.

_So far, so good_ Sarah thought as she reached the cove and climbed to sit on a small rock. She smiled as she stared into the clear, calm water where she could see small shells in the sand. She was even happy to find a small red starfish just chilling there. _This isn't so bad_ Sarah thought as she saw her reflection smiling back up at her in the water.

_Plop!_ Sarah looked up to see something splash into the water a few yards away. A few seconds later she saw a rock splash into the water, making another _plop _sound. But who was throwing them? She slid off the rock and hurried as quietly as she could to the cave's side wall where she stopped with her back up against the wall.

_Plop!_ Did she dare look around the wall and into the cave? Sarah held her breath as she peered around the corner slowly. She jerked back for a second, surprised that there was indeed someone there. But she quickly regained her confidence as her curiosity returned.

She could see a little boy with ruffled yellow hair that spiked up in some places at the top and went down to his shoulders. The only clothing he donned were white swim trunks with a thick dark blue line running along the end of the pant legs. He didn't seem much older than her but, unlike her, his face was sad and lonely. Sarah couldn't help but feel bad for him. She watched him as he hugged his legs up to his chest with one arm and pick up another nearby rock with his free hand before he threw it into the water. She kept watching him as her feet subconsciously started to walk towards him.

Jareth was about to throw another rock when he saw something purple in the corner of his eye. He looked over to see a young girl with long dark hair in a purple one piece walking towards him. Their eyes locked and they both stopped moving. Time seemed to stand still. Jareth was surprised to see someone else there and Sarah was surprised that she had come within a few feet from him.

A few moments passed before Sarah gave a small, shy smile. "Hi." ,she said as she started to gather her courage, "I'm Sarah." Little Jareth blinked before he put down the rock in his hand that he was about to throw. "Jareth." he replied as quietly as she had. Sarah looked around the cave which was much tinier than she had imagined. The curved back wall was a few meters away. Beside Jareth, there were some large rocks like in the cove scattered further back into the cave along with tiny rocks in the sand. Sarah looked back down at Jareth. "Mind if I…?" she gestured to sit down.

"Yeah, sure." Jareth said as Sarah sat down cross legged. The two sat silently for what seemed like years before Sarah spoke up. "So, uh, do you come here often?"

Jareth kept his gaze toward the ocean. "Only when I feel like it." He turned his head to look at her. "And you?"

"Every summer." Sarah replied as she saw something that she had never seen before. Her brown eyes stared back into Jareth's blue and green ones. "What?" Jareth said softly as he stared back at her.

Sarah pointed to her eyes and Jareth gave a small smile. "The eyes?" She nodded as his smile became wider. "I wish I had two different colored eyes", said Sarah with a smile, "That'd be cool." Jareth gave a little laugh, pleased that he didn't seem like a freak or anything to his new friend. _In fact_, he thought_, she's probably going to be the first and last friend that I ever make. Don't want to mess this up…_

A few more moments passed before Sarah asked "So where are you from?" Jareth thought for a moment. "England." Sarah watched him as his eyebrows furrowed and the corners of his mouth frowned a bit. "No", he said as Sarah watched him have what seemed like an internal struggle between telling the truth and telling a lie. "Actually, I'm not from here." he finally decided on.

Sarah gave him a confused look. "Like from…earth? Like some alien?" Her eyes grew wide with shock before Jareth waved both his hands. "No, no! I'm not an alien."- Sarah calmed down a little- "I'm from some place that uses magic and all sorts of different creatures live there…in the Underground."

"The Under…ground?" Sarah said confused as she processed this. Her mother had read to her stories about fairytale creatures and magical adventures but could there really be a place like that? She had always dreamed and hoped to go to a place like that but…

Jareth could see her doubts. "I can prove that magic is real." he said quickly as he waved his hand. Between them appeared a green plastic bucket and two yellow plastic shovels. Sarah instantly recognized it as the same set that she had asked her parents to get at the store before they had headed to the beach. However her parents told her that she already had a bucket and shovel and she didn't need another one.

"How…?" Sarah asked starting at the set as a huge smile started to form on her face. "Magic!" she answered her own question excitedly as she looked up at Jareth. "Wow! What else can you do?" Jareth smiled a perfect smile. "Anything really but I'm still learning."- he picked up a plastic shovel and handed it to Sarah- "Wanna make a sandcastle?"

Sarah took the shovel and smiled. She started to dig into the damp sand and fill the bucket. They started building in silence before Jareth spoke again. "You know, plastic is pretty valuable where I'm from." he said as he examined the plastic in his hand before he went back to digging. Sarah gave a small laugh. "Here it's pretty cheap. But tell me more about this Underwear."

"Ground." Jareth corrected with a laugh. They continued to talk about the wondrous Underground until they had finished building their sandcastle which was a little lopsided in some places. Sarah finished padding the surrounding wall of the castle before the two stood back to admire their work. "Sounds like a fun place", she sighed, "I wish I could see it."

Jareth took her hand in his as he turned to smile at her, cheeks blushing a little bit. "Maybe someday I'll show you." Sarah's cheeks turned a shade of red as she looked back at him and smiled. "I'd like that."

**The End! Hope you guys stay cool and please review! B)**


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